CT nonprofits push for funding buoyed by poll
The community nonprofits that contract with the state to provide a wide array of social services from mental health to anti-poverty programs are hoping a new poll of Connecticut voters showing strong support for these services will help in their longtime quest for increased funding.
On behalf of the CT Community Nonprofit Alliance, the San Francisco, Calif.-based firm Change Research surveyed 798 registered voters in Connecticut, a mix of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, from March 25-28.
The Alliance has not yet released the survey publicly, but provided Hearst with a copy of the information, which it has begun to discuss with members of the General Assembly and the Lamont administration.
The poll found 76% of those surveyed support the Alliance’s plan to boost funding for these nonprofits by $461 million over the next five years. The state spends about $1.4 billion annually to contract with hundreds of nonprofits for these services.
“We’re very heartened by the poll,” said Gian-Carl Casa, president and CEO of the Alliance.
The $461 million was reached by calculating the rate of inflation each year since the Great Recession, Casa said. The group’s plan calls for roughly half the money to be paid for by the federal government through Medicaid reimbursements.
The calculation was made in the beginning of 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic, which exacerbated the under-funding problem and made their case for more money even more urgent, Casa said.
Many nonprofits saw an increased demand for their services during their pandemic. At the same time, they faced fiscal pressures to stay open including providing hazardous duty pay to staff who risked exposure to the virus, and purchasing personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, for which they received only partial reimbursement from the state.
Fernando Muniz, CEO of Community Solutions, which has a contract with the Department of Corrections to provide prison reentry programs, said his organization has spent $1 million on COVID-related expenses.
“Even before the pandemic we were in a situation where it was difficult to recruit staff because we can’t pay competitive wages,” Muniz said. “The cost to provide these services has gone up over the years. Nonprofits are organizations like any other company. We provide health insurance, have to pay electricity bills.”
The poll helped “get the pulse” of Connecticut residents for how vital these services are, said Muniz, who is one of the chairs of the Alliance’s advocacy group.
The Democratic co-chairs of the General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee have indicated their support for increased funding for nonprofits, as have other legislators, and the polling data is an added boost, he said.
The timing is also right, said Casa, who previously served as the Undersecretary for Legislative Affairs at the state Office of Policy and Management.
“The state went through very difficult budget times,” he said. “When times were tough nonprofits often had to take it on the chin.”
But the state is not in the same fiscal situation today, Casa said pointing to the budget surplus this year of close to $1 billion, a $3.5 billion rainy day fund, and millions in federal coronavirus relief funds.
“Things are financially much sunnier than they have been in last dozen years or so,” he said. “Nonprofits took it on chin when times were bad, we need to get back to even.”